In novel situations, the courts have used the three-stage test from Caparo Industries v Dickman to determine whether a duty of care exists. Which of the following is NOT one of the three stages?

Correct answer: B) The defendant intended to cause the claimant harm

Explanation

The Caparo factors are whether damage was reasonably foreseeable, whether there was sufficient proximity, and whether it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty. Negligence does not require any intention to cause harm; it is based on a failure to take reasonable care. In Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police the Supreme Court stressed that Caparo did not lay down a single test for every case: where a duty is already established by precedent the court simply applies it, and in genuinely novel situations it develops the law incrementally by analogy with existing cases, using these factors as part of that reasoning.